First butchering day; Actually quick and easy!

[Sunny Side Up]

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Please ask the Pet Taxi lady to share just what she did that made the difference. (Perhaps she could join BYC and that could be her log-in name) I know there's been criticism of using this method for dispatching, but it seems that if you can do it "right" there are marvelous results.

 

[dancingbear]

If Pet Taxi lady wants to do a video, that would be great. I'd love a little more help getting this just right.
Zookeeper, thanks for posting that!

Before the 1st roo earlier this week, and then the 3 yesterday, the only bird I'd killed myself was the injured one. (My DH did the deed on them all, I gutted and bagged.) She just went totally limp, and there was no flapping, twitching, or anything. Then I removed the head and hung her up to bleed out, she never flapped at all. So that was what I expected with these others. They all put up a bit of a fight, and I didn't have a cone, so maybe I'll make a cone for next time. That could make a lot of difference. I was home alone, so there wasn't anybody to help hold them still. Trying to get the right spot's harder with a moving target.

The one that worked the best, I held his head from behind, and pressed thumb and index finger into what I hoped was the carotids, to block blood flow. I was trying to make him pass out before sticking. When the eyes closed I waited about 15 seconds, and pushed the beak open. There was a slight struggle while sticking, did the little twist, it was over really fast. Then I held the head pulled down tight while I sliced the jugulars on both sides. When he'd mostly bled out, the flapping started. Flapping, pause, flapping, pause, and so on. I went ahead and removed the head during a pause. That all sounds like a long time, written out, but it was really only about 2 minutes from first stick to removing the head.

I've had a really hard time in the past even killing a fish, I didn't know if I'd be able to do this at all. It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Even though it didn't go as smoothly as I thought it would. I just focused on the physical mechanics of getting it done. Once that first stick was done, there's no turning back, so I wanted to finish it as quickly as I could.

I feel better now, knowing that I am capable of doing what needs to be done in order to provide meat. I may even try shooting a deer at some point, because we eat a fair amount of venison. I've wondered if I could do this for myself and others if need be. Now I know the answer is "yes, I can."

 

[Skyrider]

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Hi Zoo!

I wish you could go into minute detail about pithing and how a feather plucker works. I don't have any idea. Is your chicken in the cone before you open the beak and (as nearly as I understand) stick a sharp knife into the upper back of the pallet and then to the left or right into the brain?

I'd love to hear much, much more.

Thanks,

Sky~

 

[Skyrider]

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Hi Bear,

This was very helpful to me. You could even get more detailed and it would help a lot. What do you see and where did you aim your knife then go up and to the left or right (???).

If you have the chicken in the cone, how do you remove the head? Can you just pull down real hard and separate the head from the neck so you're only cutting through flesh?

More, more, more!

Thanks,

Sky~

 

[dancingbear]

Hi Skyrider! I didn't have mine in a cone, but if you do use one, his head should be sticking out the bottom enough to stick, cut, and behead. The spot I was aiming at was the upper rear of the skull, but looking the pics and comments posted by Half-a-dozen, https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=90607
I'm thinking I should've aimed straight into the beak into a spot lower on the back of the head. Maybe that's why mine didn't go as quietly into the good night as I'd hoped.

I had mine hung upside down with a loop around the feet, and after the brain stick, I pulled the head down to pull the skin taut, and made long deep cuts just under (actually over, as the bird was upside down) the earlobes on both sides. There's a deep groove in the roof of the bird's mouth, that's what the knife goes into for the brain stick. Once the bleeding slowed, I went ahead and took the head off, I kept the head pulled down tight, and sliced across the throat, then twisted to separate the neck bones, and cut through the last bit of skin holding it on.

I was running out of daylight, and just wanted to get all three dispatched while I could still see well enough not to cut my thumb off or something equally unpleasant. They weren't easy to pluck, so I knew I hadn't quite gotten it right. I had to dunk them in hot water repeatedly, it took forever to get them plucked. The rest of the cleaning was pretty quick. I really want a tub-style plucker!

I have 3 more to process, but I'm giving them a couple of weeks longer to fatten up, first.

When I did the brain stick, I went straight in through the beak, aimed up just a little, then gave the knife a bit of a twist. Next time I'll aim straight at the back of the skull through the beak, and twist. I hope that works better.

 

[Cason]

We just stepped on their heads, pulled, and dropped them into a clean trash can until they were finished thrashing.

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Hey Jenny Joan is already on this site as I sent it to her when I joined. She doesn't post or stop in much as she is one busy lady. But I will ask her to share, I can't promise she will.

She had a cone and a table top feather plucker and we still dunked the birds in very hot water with a little bit of dish soap in the hot water (this helps get thru the oil in the feather ducts).

I know she wasn't too sure about this after the first 2 so she went home and studied a diagram of the chicken. I believe you go thru the slit in the roof of the mouth and straight thru to the back of the head in a straight line between the eyes. Do not hit the front of the brain as it will harden the feathers.

She also had a looped rope that she put on the neck of the chicken before it went in the cone, this helped hold the neck down so that she could work better. They scrunch the neck up into the cone and that makes it hard for the person trying to make a quick easy job of the dispatch.

The birds are not dead at this point but they are brain dead and feel no pain. Then she cut the throat just like Jenny did and when the bleeding stopped removed the head.

There was some thrashing that is to be expected in any death but it was not crazy like I have seen it before. And the cone really was a help here. One did make a sound but that was when she opened the mouth.

When she hit the right spot the feathers just about fell out all by themselves and the body was so limp it was almost like it was trying to do yoga. Hard to explain but once you see it then you will know this is the most human way for you to harvest a bird.

I also had never harvested or processed a bird so I went to the meat birds section here and went to the sticky at the top of the page and read and read the links on there. They had great step by step instrucitons and pic's.

One of the guys on there has a blog and he made a whiz bang chicken plucker and I tell ya I am ordering the how to make one book and going to try that one. He also made a whiz bang chicken scalder and that was something as well.

Use a killing cone they make a big difference. They can be made out of the heating duc stuff.

 

[Skyrider]

Hi Bear & Zoo,

Thanks to you two for invaluable help. Bear, the link was perfect. Even with my very, very slow connection I was finally able to get all the pictures loaded and boy (!) did it ever help!

Zoo, if you could be so kind to tell me the link on how to make a chicken plucker I'd appreciate it. I wonder if it HAS to be with electric? Hope not. They don't make too much electricity where I'm from.

I'm sure the lady with the electricity recipe died as our current is pretty much dead most of the time.

But that's the jungles of India for ya.

Thanks again!!!

Sky~

 

[Zookeeper9000]

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Sky here is the link I read about butchering on with pics. You need electricity for the plucker he makes. Good luck.

http://butcherachicken.blogspot.com/

 

[dancingbear]

Sky, I bet you could rig up a plucker with gears and a chain or belt attached to a bicycle. The tub turns one way, the bottom plate spins the opposite direction. You could use additional gearing and a second belt or chain to turn the bottom plate the opposite direction from the tub. You'd probably only need to pedal/crank for about 2 minutes, and they'd be done. Depending on the size of the plucker, you could do 4 birds at once.

I know people set them up with running water, but if that's a problem, you could set it up so the bottom could drop out, and rinse it out with a bucket of water between batches, with a thorough cleaning only when finished with the whole bunch.

Would you be doing a large batch of birds at once, or one or two at a time? If only one or two, I wouldn't mess with a plucker. From what I'm reading, if you get the pithing down correctly, the feathers come out very easily anyway.

If you're planning more at once, how will you keep the meat? Do you have a propane or some other alternative fridge/freezer? Pressure canning? Taken them away immediately and sell them?

What part of India do you live in? I hope to travel there some day. (Not anytime soon, but maybe in a few years, I hope)